Box Score

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Crusaders gave it their best shot but came up just short.

Playing for a chance to clinch a playoff berth, the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team held the lead early in the second half against host Alaska Anchorage, but couldn't finish off the road upset, falling 81-73 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action late Thursday night.

"In many areas we played well tonight against a team that is undefeated at home," NNU head coach Scott Flemming said of the Seawolves, who clinched the No. 2 seed in next week's GNAC Tournament with the win. "We held them to under 40-percent shooting; I thought we did a good job of sharing the ball on the offensive end; our one glaring weakness was rebounding."

The Crusaders (12-13 overall, 9-10 GNAC) held UAA to 23-of-60 shooting (38.3 percent), and NNU's players team up for an incredible 24 assists. But the downfall was on the glass, where the Seawolves (20-7, 14-5) won the battle of the boards 49-26, including a 16-3 edge on the offensive end.

UAA cashed in on those boards with a 14-3 advantage in second-chance points, providing just enough margin on the scoreboard.

Though NNU made it exciting as a Kaileb Rodriguez bucket capped a 15-0 run that put the Crusaders on top 15-8 early, a Jayden Bezzant layup gave NNU a 25-20 lead with five minutes until halftime, and back-to-back 3-pointers from Bezzant had the Crusaders on top 44-43 with 15 ½ minutes left on the game clock.

But the Seawolves used a 15-4 charge, capped by a Sekou Wiggs 3-ball, to take control.

A Diante Mitchell offensive board then led to a Spencer Svejcar second-chance layup and a 77-63 UAA lead with under 3 minutes to play.

Just enough to hold off the Crusaders, who got to 77-69 down on a Spider Adetunji layup with 2 minutes left, and to 81-73 in the final minute on a Pol Olivier lay-in, but could get no closer.

Bezzant led the way for NNU with 19 points and six assists, while Bouna N'Diaye added 15 points and seven assists. With the 15 points, N'Diaye eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in his NNU career, becoming the 36th Crusader in the 1,000-point club. N'Diaye has 1,004 career points, and counting..

Maurice Jones had 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds, and Olivier added 10 points and six assists for the Crusaders, who close out the regular season Saturday night at Alaska.

A huge night, as a win over the Nanooks can clinch a berth to the GNAC Tournament, held March 2-4 at St. Martin's, for NNU.

"If we play like this and rebound the ball, I like our chances on Saturday," Flemming said.